Beer Friends and Boy Bands
Parallel 49 Brewing Brews Brothers Review
What do boy bands and craft beer have in common? The 2019 Brews Brothers Boy Bands pack!
We look forward to the Brews Brothers release every year, and for good reason. Parallel 49 Brewing comes up with a cool new theme and different packaging format each year. They also team up with an amazing lineup of craft breweries to make some really unique beer recipes.
This year’s theme draws inspiration from popular boy bands for the beer names. The pack features eight 473ml cans; each one brewed in collaboration with another B.C. craft brewery.
We figured the best way to talk about the eight different collaboration beers was to ask for some help from our fellow beer bloggers and ‘beerstagrammers’. This is a seriously creative and talented group of friends that we’re lucky to have met through our love of craft beer.
P49 x Iron Road Brewing – Liquid Dreams – Saison
Review by @vanpours
I had O-Town's first album on repeat during the early 2000s after being gifted their CD on my tenth birthday. Spicy music for a pre-teen kid, no doubt. Just know that I was kicking it to O-Town way before R&B throwback parties at trendy nightclubs were a thing.
Similar to O-Town's number of radio plays recently, the Liquid Dreams Saison from Parallel 49 and Iron Road is limited. In a good way though! Coming in at 7% ABV, this beer is a heftier take on the saison style. Peppery with notes of banana on the body, it finishes boozy and dry. I wouldn’t label this beer as easy drinking, but it's an interesting change-up from the softer, fruit forward saisons that I usually lean towards. Now stop dreaming and try it yourself!
P49 x The 101 Brewhouse – I swear – Belgian Style Single
Review by @brewardinlet
This Belgian Single hits all the right notes of a Top 40 hit. A solid malt body is met with Belgian funk rhythms that before this beer might only be found performed by Belgium’s top Funk Band “Solis Lacus” (that’s a legit Belgian funk band). This solid malt and funk base has a shadow by its side, a slight taste of gin which plays nicely with the base flavours. In short, I swear I’d recommend this to all my friends. You might say I’d recommend it to All-4-one of them… but that sounds kind of dumb.
P49 x Sooke Oceanside Brewery – Hanging Tough – Red Bock
Review by @seatoskybeerguy
At the height of New Kids on the Block’s (the boy band who’s Hangin’ Tough song this delicious Red Bock was named after) popularity I was blissfully unaware of them and rocking HARD to early Metallica. One afternoon in grade 11 French class I was most definitely NOT learning French when a gaggle of grade 9 girls peeked thru the classroom window. The focus of their curiosity? Me. I know it’s hard to believe but, back then, I was most definitely NOT a ladies man. The reason for their misplaced enthusiasm? “You look like Jonathen Knight,” one of my friends who was a girl told me. “Who the expletive is that?” I replied. “The less popular brother in NKOTB,” she finished. Oh.
This beer was brewed with love and tenderness by Parallel 49 and Sooke Oceanside Brewery and I highly recommend you seek it and it’s fellow brothers out. Thanks for allowing me to sip salaciously while walking “Step by Step” down memory lane!
P49 x Luppolo Brewing Company – We've Got It Goin' On – Saison
Review by @ivantheiceman
Yes, yes it does have it goin’ on! It pours a beautiful clear gold. The nose is a soft saison funk, but it’s kicked up a notch with the wine yeast and really comes through. Then you take that sip and realize just how talented the brewer's that crafted this saison are. It is balanced so well. The wine yeast plays a special roll rounding out the grain and delicious funk. I think this is my new favorite saison and it should be a mainstay at P49 and Luppolo!
P49 x Fieldhouse Brewing Company – Faded – Habenero Peach Gose
Review by @zappaandzero
Parallel 49. Good
Fieldhouse. Good.
Gose. Good.
Peaches. Good.
Habaneros. Good.
Together!?!? Better.
Parallel 49 has a reputation for constantly putting out bangers with quality and consistency. Fieldhouse Brewing is known for their big, bold, rustic flavours. So, when I saw both of these power houses on the same can, I just had to have it.
When you read “Faded – Habanero Peach Gose” on the front of the can, a lot of red flags pop up. How spicy? How sour? How peacherific?
As a lover of the hottest sauces I can confidently say there is very little heat. It slightly tickles the back of the throat but nothing to warrant a glass of milk. The sweetness of the peach comes through nicely and with its refreshing tartness it gives this beer a fun cocktail vibe. This is a beer I quite enjoyed. It really makes you question what is real.
Taste is subjective. This is just one guy’s opinion. That being said, it is my sole decision 😉 that you need to give this little spicy peach party a taste.
P49 x Fuggles & Warlock Crafworks – I Want It That Way – Yuzu Sencha Brut IPA
Review by @westcoasthomebrewer
This 7% Brut IPA is infused with Sencha Green Tea and Yuzu Citrus! A golden brut style IPA with a stone fruit and grape like essence on the nose along side a herbal, slightly citrus tasting note. While the brew is quite astringent on the tongue, the yuzu and green tea additions blend harmoniously together to give a complete brew experience! The teams at Parallel 49 and Fuggles and Warlock should be proud of this concoction. I definitely want it that way!
P49 x Coal Harbour – I'll Make Love To You – Black Currant Dark Mild
Review by @hopsnscrubs
There comes a time… when a beer so bold and so delicious makes you kick back and remember the days when you and your buddies used to rock matching oversized patterned suits, vests, and baseball hats and croon sexy lyrics to any lady that walked by.
Hops and Scrubs used to do exactly that back in the day. To the full extent.
Except only in our minds. And instead of matching oversized patterned suits we wore matching Hypercolor t-shirts. And instead of hats we wore our bowl cuts. And ladies laughed at us as we crooned "Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies.
But we digress. Here is a beer that takes us back to the days when Boyz II Men were king and it was cool to wear pants bigger than three humans.
I'll Make Love To You by Parallel 49 and Coal Harbour Brewing pours a deep, dark caramel colour with a pink, almost opaque head. Aromas of cocoa, toasted malts, and berries. Malt, chocolate, coffee, and currants on the tongue. A very bold combo that worked out great! Delicious! You just may… no you WILL.. want to make love to it.
P49 x BrewHall – No Diggity – Hazy IPA
Review by @crafttourist
“I like the way YOU work it, NO DIGGITY”, and by YOU, I mean Graham With from Parallel 49 and Kerry Dyson from Brewhall who teamed up to create this 6% Hazy IPA for the Brews Brothers Collaboration Pack. It was close but I would say it edged out the rest of the pack as my personal favourite!
It’s everything that I enjoy in a Hazy IPA but with a fun little funk. Much like the music of the famous Black Street track, the beer had me groovin’ and swayin’ with tropical notes of pineapple & kiwi and a bit a citrus fruit playing a guest spot just like Dr. Dre and Queen Pen did on this catchy hip HOP song straight out of 1996! You could say it was on “Another Level” and that true beer enthusiasts will love this one, from the “East side to the West side!”
And that’s a wrap! Eight beers, eight reviews, eight beer friends. Collaboration on collaboration. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
If you’re interested in picking up a Brews Brothers pack make sure to visit Parallel 49 Brewing. Cheers!
A huge thanks to Parallel 49 Brewing Company for providing the Brews Brothers Collaboration Packs for this article.
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